The American Trucking Associations has asked Congress to support such industry environmental initiatives as capping U.S. highway speeds at 65 miles per hour and increasing funding to the EPA's SmartWay program.
"It is in our best business interest to reduce our energy consumption, improve our profitability, and reduce our levels of emissions and greenhouse gases," ATA first vice chairman Tommy Hodges told the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
He says the trucking industry intends to reduce fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and reduce the carbon footprint of all vehicles by nearly a billion tons over the next 10 years.
Hodges says ATA also wants to see financial incentives, such as tax credits or grants, to expedite the introduction of idling reduction equipment across the nation. Investing in infrastructure to fix the nation's most critical bottlenecks would ease congestion, save 32 billion gallons of fuel, and reduce carbon emissions by 314 million tons over 10 years, he says.
Source: American Trucking Associations